The Princess in Denial and the Jealous Dragon
by Tai Ru Kaerisato
Summary: Lucy, Natsu and Happy are broke whereas they go out on a mission, but many strange events start developing which will lead them to an inevitable fate wherein Lucy will have to make her hardest decision.


**A/N: I hope you enjoy this little story I wrote, I plan on making it a two-chapter long story, each one around 3000 words long, but I'm willing to make it longer if you request me to do so and if I feel like I won't be ruining the story if I made it any longer. :)  
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**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters all belong to Hiro Mashima-sensei!**

**Enjoy!**

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_The right to love's given to those who have faith in themselves and in the person they intend to share the rest of their lifes with._

Natsu Dragneel, son of Fire Dragon Igneel, flew into his best friend's house through the window with the help of Happy. The two sneaked in, looking around for a trace of Lucy, but found her nowhere nearby. They tip-toed to her kitchen and as Natsu was about to reach his hand to the handle of the refrigerator he heard a voice behind him.

"What do the two of you think you're doing sneaking into my house?"

The two culprits jumped up from surprise and looked back at the blond standing behind them with her arms folded together and leaning against the wall.

"Ah! Hey Lucy!" Natsu greeted her and waved at her.

Happy flew into her chest, sobbing dramatically, "Luuuuuuuushy~~! I'm so hungry and we're broke!"

Lucy patted the blue furball's head comfortably, "I see. Well I had already guessed this would someday happen so I already had some fish ready for you," she smiled down at him.

"Lushy! You're my hero!" Happy beamed with happiness and flew towards the refrigerator and picked out a full plate of fish out of it.

Lucy turned to look at Natsu, "well? What are you waiting for? Dig in!" She told him and chuckled.

Natsu was perplexed for a moment by her bright smile. He shook his head and attacked the refrigerator, taking everything meat-related into his hungry stomach.

After a while the three of them sat at the living room. Happy snoozed peacefully away in between Natsu and Lucy.

"I found a mission the three of us can do. It pays well for the three of us and it doesn't require much effort," Lucy told Natsu and pulled a mission flyer out of the bag she was carrying and held it in front of him.

"Some bandits stole my most precious possession. Will any of you be willing to find them and take back my precious possession?" Natsu read, "reward: 200.000 Jewels! Woaaah, this is our lucky day!" Natsu said in excitement.

"Right! Let's meet tonight at 9 PM at the train station," Lucy said.

"What? But we don't wanna leave yet! Can't we stay here a while longer?" Natsu pleaded her.

"No, I need my privacy too and you two need to go pack!" Lucy told him strictly.

Natsu looked down in disappointment and took Happy in his arms, "Happy, wake up! We're going home!" He told his little friend.

Happy slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them softly, "what? But this feels so much like home, can't I stay here?"

Natsu set Happy on the sofa and looked at Lucy expectantly. Lucy only shook her head slightly, "well, I guess he can stay here, but you, Natsu, should get going! We need to be there on time!"

Natsu grinned at her, "'kay, see ya later!" He told her and jumped out of the window.

"Geez, you never learn, do you?" Lucy shook her head and smiled softly.

"You lllllllike him!" Happy suddenly said, making Lucy growl at him in annoyance.

"Stay still while I pack up my stuff," she said and left off to do her things, the thought of what Happy said still haunting her for an unknown reason. Every once in a while she had to face palm herself in order to focus on what she was doing.

- X -

_THAT EVENING IN THE TRAIN_

The train had just left Magnolia Station 10 minutes ago.

"Buuuuuf... Aaaaaargh... Grrrrf" Natsu was lying on the seat across from Lucy and Happy. He felt how the world was crumbling around him and how his insides would suddenly stir up and make him throw up any given moment.

"Ugh, I had forgotten about his motion sickness," Lucy said in an annoyed voice. She looked down at Natsu with pity in her eyes. She seriously felt sorry for the boy.

"Haha, Natsu never changes, I heard it is because of his Dragon Slayer magic! All strong Dragon Slayers have it!" Happy said.

"Oh yeah I remember at the Grand Magic Games when he participated for the first time," Lucy chuckled at the thought. She had been so proud of him at that time. His words moved the whole audience and they had filled her heart with pure admiration for him. She had been acting a bit differently around him after her fight against Flare, but everything went back to normal after they had won the games.

"Lushy, do you like him?" Happy suddenly shook her out from her train of thoughts.

"Like him? Of course I do! He wouldn't be my best friend if I didn't like him right?" Lucy was confused by Happy's question. The blue exceed looked unusually serious when he asked her that. Lucy remained oblivious.

"No, I meant the like, like in love. Do you love Natsu?"

_Love? Love is such a strong word. She doesn't feel anything like that for Natsu. He's just her best friend and she knew that's all they would ever be. Besides, Natsu wasn't her type at all. Her ideal boy was actually Natsu's complete opposite. There was no way she would ever fall in love with Natsu._

_She had already had a crush on Gray from the start, but Juvia's jealousy discouraged her enough to give up on the Ice Mage. She once felt something for Loke when they first met, but after she found out he was Leo the Lion she gave up on him. The other day she had gone on a date with this very charismatic and handsome guy who had the same hobbies as her, but he turned out to be taken. If there was something she knew, was that those boys she's once felt attracted to, were Natsu's complete opposites. So no, Natsu is just a good friend._

"Hahahaha! Are you kidding me? Me _in love_ with Natsu? No way!" Lucy laughed out loud, clutching her stomach. Happy could really be so funny at times, but what amused her the most was that he was actually being serious.

Happy only eyed her suspiciously, "yeah right Lushy, we'll see," he mumbled softly to himself so Lucy wouldn't be able to hear him over her loud fit of laughter.

"Gruuuuuuuushy..." Natsu mumbled but barfed in his bag right after.

Lucy looked at him with an amused look in her eyes, "don't say my name and throw up right after!" She erupted in another fit of laughter.

Suddenly, she felt a warm hand clutch to her arm. She looked down to see Natsu was holding tightly onto her arm. She looked down at his figure and pity builded up inside of her. She brought her hand up to stroke his arm comfortably. After a moment, she removed his grip on her arm and moved over to sit beside him. She tilted his head and let it rest on top of her lap. She proceeded to stroke his pink locks softly.

Happy only watched the whole scene in silence, but decided to go to sleep after a while.

Natsu ha been feeling like a piece of bargage. He had heard Lucy's laughter and instinctively reached out his arm in her direction. He had grabbed her arm and felt how she stroked his for a moment until she sat herself beside him and put his head on her lap and began to stroke his hair. He immediately relaxed and soothed down to sleep.

"Andalova station approached in 5 minutes, I repeat, Andalova station approached in 5 minutes," Lucy heard the voice announce. Natsu was still in a deep slumber with his head on top of her lap. It had surprised her how easily he had fallen asleep after she had done what she did. Happy awoke slowly and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.

"Natsu," Lucy whispered down at said boy. He shifted slightly, but remained asleep with a cute smile plastered on his face. Lucy stared at his sleeping face for a bit and thought about how cute and peaceful he could be when he slept. 'Totally the opposite to how he really is,' she thought, amused.

"Natsu! We'll be arriving in a bit! Wake up!" Happy jumped on top of his best friend's stomach, making Natsu snap his eyes open, but barf immediately into a nearby bag after said movement made his stomach stir up.

The train came to a halt and Lucy grabbed her stuff and grabbed Natsu in the process as well and pulled him by force out of the train. Happy flew right behind them. Lucy turned around to look at him.

"Can you give me a hand here?" She asked Happy and pointed at Natsu's limp figure. He looked devastated and it seemed like he was about to barf any moment. "Gosh, we're not even in the train anymore," Lucy shook her head in disapproval.

Happy flew over to Natsu, grabbed a hold of his collar and took off in the direction of the sky. He looked down worriedly at his best friend, "Natsu, you feeling better now?" He asked him.

Natsu's eyes suddenly shot wide open. "Yeah! I'm feeling way better now! You can put me down Happy!"

Happy's face beamed with happiness as he put Natsu down on solid ground. Lucy looked at the two and smiled, "so you feeling better now?" She questioned in a teasing tone.

Natsu grumbled, "it's not like I can help it!" He yelled back at her. Lucy only laughed in response. Natsu perked his ears up, the sound of her laughter soothing his ears. He kind of liked it and felt like laughing along with her. Soon the three of them were in the middle of a laughing fit in the middle of the street, not minding the comments they were receiving from passerbies.

After they ha calmed down they headed to a nearby, cheap hotel. They entered and approached the counter.

"Good day, two solo rooms please?" Lucy said to the tall man in a black suit standing behind the counter. The black-haired man stared at Lucy with his big blue eyes. He smiled at her charismatically, "welcome to Andalova Hotel mademoiselle," he said and looked at her two companions, "sir and sir-cat." He nodded their way. He then turned around and grabbed two keys and returned. "That will be 24.000 Jewell for two solo rooms," he told Lucy.

Lucy sighed inwardly, that was half of the money she had brought along. She pulled her purse out of her bag, pulled out two bills and a few coins and put them on the counter. The tall man grabbed the money and handed Lucy the keys. "Thank you very much," Lucy thanked the very handsome man, in her opinion. The man winked at her in return, which made Lucy blush slightly. "You're very welcome, mademoiselle. Have a nice stay at our hotel."

Natsu watched in silence, he was strangely enough disturbed by the man, but he had no idea why. He felt like grabbing Lucy's hand at that exact moment, but Lucy would get mad so he decided not to. Lucy turned his way and offered him one of the keys. He instinctively snatched it out of her hand and glared at the man before turning around, stomping his way towards the staircase.

Lucy felt like she was walking on top of the clouds. The way that man had smiled and winked at her! But above all, he was so totally her type! Handsome, tall and charismatic! She held her hand to her chest and sighed. She had not paid much attention to Natsu's sudden change in attitude as she followed close behind him towards their respective rooms.

Natsu looked down at his key number which read 179 and looked up to check out the room's number, it was his and Happy's room. He looked back at Lucy, she looked like she was in a daze. "Hey Lucy, here's my room. Where's yours?"

"Huh?" Lucy was suddenly shaken out of her daze. She looked down at the number on her keys. "Oh, mine's room 178..." She said.

"That means we're next to each other!" Natsu grinned. Lucy only stared at him for a moment, totally lost in thought.

"Yo Lucy? Happy and I'll be going in to leave our baggage behind," he told her. Lucy nodded and turned around to face her room. She opened it and found a nice cozy room with a single bed in one of the corners, a small drawer next to it, a small closet nearby the entrance and a small bathroom. It was perfect. She put her stuff down and plopped down on the bed. It was soft. Her thoughts wandered back to the handsome man at the counter and his charismatic smile, but suddenly that image became blurry and in turn an image of a Natsu grinning broadly appeared. Then next to it Happy's image appeared saying _you lllllllike him_. She sat straight up in surprise and shook her head violently. _What the heck...?_

She decided not to think too much about it and walked into the bathroom to fix her hair and make-up. She let her hair down this time and adjusted some pink lipstick. She put in her heart earrings and changed to a more comfortable outfit. This one was a strapless light pink shirt with a golden heart shaped insignia printed on the left side of her chest. She accompanied it with a white miniskirt and brown sandals. She checked herself out in the mirror one last time before heading out of the room. She walked towards Natsu and Happy's room next to hers and knocked twice.

"Lushy's here!" She heard Happy yell and heard his little footsteps approach the door from the other side. The door opened and Lucy found Happy staring up at her. "Natsu's taking a shower, come in Lushy!" The little exceed stepped aside to let her in. Lucy smiled and hummed while she headed towards the bed and sat down at one of the corners. This room looked exactly like hers, except that it was like a mirrored version.

Happy chewed happily away on a fish he had brought along, while Lucy stared out of the window. After a while she heard Natsu exit the bathroom. She turned her head around to greet him, but her words got caught in her throat. He was standing there, in just a towel, his hair dripping wet and his accentuated muscles visibly showing. Her heart beat sped up for some reason when he smiled at her and she forced herself to look away from him so he wouldn't see the deep blush that had crept up her face.

"Yo Lucy!" He greeted her.

Lucy was still turned away from him, "j-just dress up already, ok?" She told him. She heard him laugh behind her.

Natsu walked in the direction of his huge bag that was laying on top of his bed. He walked pass Lucy, who was still turned away from him and stared at her for a moment. She was wearing a different outfit and she had let her hair down. He thought she looked the most beautiful when she did that. He grabbed his usual outfit out of his bag and headed back to the bathroom.

Lucy still felt a little flustered after she saw Natsu in such a state. _He looked differently, he looked... Sexy, yes, most definitely sexy. But she's always known he was hot. What teenage girl wouldn't notice those accentuated abs and muscles? She was always around him so it was only natural for her to notice those things. But really, she had never really ever thought about it. She had never been this flustered about it before, so why was it happening now? Why did her heart speed up when she saw him standing there like that? Happy's words resounded again and again in her mind. She knew for sure she didn't like him in _that_ way. This must just be a natural reaction, yes, that must just be it._

Natsu exited the bathroom all dressed up in his usual outfit. He had his spiky hair up in his usual style again.

Lucy decided to shove the disturbing thoughts aside and turned around to look at him. She forced herself to smile broadly, "so, shall we get going then?" She said and stood up.

Natsu checked her out for a moment and grinned.

"I'm all ready! Let's get going then!" He said in his usual energetic tone.

"Aye sir!" Happy piped up from beside the bed. He had already eaten up all of his fish.

The three of them headed out of the room and Natsu locked the door behind him. They walked down the stairs. The man behind the counter noticed the group approaching and waved and winked at Lucy. Lucy, once again, felt flustered at this and smiled back at the man. And all of a sudden she felt Natsu's warm hand grabbing her own and pulling her with force towards the exit of the hotel.

"Wait, Natsu! What are you doing?" She yelled and tried to wriggle herself out from his grasp, but his hold on her was too tight. She looked back at the man, who was watching them leave, and turned to look at Natsu's broad back. _Why was he doing this?_

They exited the hotel and Natsu finally let go of her.

"What did you think you were doing! You hurt me!" Lucy yelled at him. She felt how tears started to build up in her eyes. She rubbed her hurt hand softly.

Natsu turned around and Lucy was shocked by the expression on his face. He looked mad, he looked disturbed. He had a deep frown on his face. "I just don't like that guy," was Natsu's simple reply.

Lucy only stared at him in utter shock. He didn't like the guy? But he was nice! Why was he so mad?

Natsu grabbed her hand again, but this time he stroked it softly. For the third time that day, Lucy was taken aback by his actions. He let go of it and turned around. "Let's go then," he said as if nothing had happened.

He didn't notice Lucy's deep blush as she silently walked right behind him.

Neither did the two of them notice Happy's knowing looks he was giving them. Oh, he definitely knew what was going on between the two.

_TO BE CONTINUED_

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**Well, I hope you liked this first chapter and I surely hope they weren't too OoC! **_  
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**Look forward to chapter 2! I might be uploading it next week after my finals are over.  
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